When I received a message on WhatsApp from a colleague journalist telling me that in Parliament the appointment of Sorina Matei as Interim President Director-General of TVR was being prepared, I thought it was a joke.
I wasn’t shocked, as nothing in Romanian politics surprises me anymore, I just noted the reaching of a new peak of Romanian-Russian collaboration.
Then, I wondered how can PSD still claim in Brussels that it is a European party or how can AUR avoid the label of an extremist formation and the spearhead of Kremlin propaganda in Romania?
Any somewhat informed person who still believes in the values of democracy and freedom understands that this appointment at the helm of TVR is, in reality, a flag planted by the Kremlin in a symbol of Free Romania, the institution where the downfall of the bloodiest dictatorial regime in Europe at the end of the last century was announced.
Romanian Television was the place where, in 1989, the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu was announced, the strategic point where violent confrontations took place between protesters and repressive forces, the place where the establishment of a liberal, multiparty political regime and the respect for fundamental human rights were announced.
For Călin Georgescu, AUR, and the Kremlin, TVR has been a symbolic target in recent years. And behold, in the indifference and impotence of the national security system, it has been conquered. It has once again come under Russia's protective wing.
An Oddity
You might be wondering, quite rightly, what arguments I have for the statements above?
In the last 15 years, under all the political regimes in power, PSD, the new USL, PNL, the new pro-European coalition, let's call it that, I have been invited and have participated pro bono, I repeat, without remuneration, in the informative and debate programs of TVR and, later, when it was reestablished, those of TVR Info.
Unintentionally, over the years, I have been a witness and have learned quite a lot about the functioning, problems, difficulties, and political struggles within the institution.
In 2024, I noticed something that, at that time, seemed odd to me, but now takes on a different meaning: the fervor with which Călin Georgescu participated in the electoral programs organized by TVR during the campaign.
Public television no longer has the audience it once had. A successful influencer on YouTube can have more viewers than the most-watched TVR programs combined.
Despite the attempts to revitalize the public television station started in the mandate of Dan Turturică and continued in that of Adriana Săftoiu, the audience was far from its former glory.
Although, for me, at that time, Călin Georgescu was a political oddity placed by the Kremlin in Romania, with no chance in elections, I was surprised by the fervor with which he attended all the electoral promotion shows.
I often met him in the hallways. In the TVR format of that time, the candidates entered in the first part of the program, and in the second part, journalists and analysts were invited to comment on the main campaign themes of the political parties.
Because TVR did not have an audience that would shape the electorate's preferences, and some shows were broadcast in the early part of the day, at ten, eleven, many presidential candidates sent representatives, campaign staff, to promote the political program of the respective candidate.
Călin Georgescu, the political oddity of that time, came in person. For him, TVR represented a stronghold.
Also, the most important leaders of AUR also came to the electoral debates at TVR, although they had a strong presence on social networks, much stronger and influential than all other parties combined.
TVR, Others' Problem
The appointment of Sorina Matei to the highest leadership position of public television represents the Kremlin's standard raised in the midst of the citadel to be conquered.
It is the culmination of propaganda, hybrid attacks, and fake news campaigns that have swept society in recent years, campaigns that Sorina Matei has frequently launched and accelerated.
TVR will not lose or gain in audience. The way the institution is currently structured, with many unions and layers, layers of employees of all political regimes in Romania after 1990. I believe there are even connections with former representatives of the Ceaușescu regime. It is an institution impossible to reform without a strong political will, one that realizes the importance of a strong, independent public television platform in the context of the national defense system.
I participated in TVR shows with passion and enthusiasm because, personally, I believe in the usefulness of such a mass media service. The most important move to reduce misinformation is to have a strong standard of accurate information for citizens.
Liviu Dragnea and PSD took care to cut radio-TV subscriptions, breaking the financial connection between the public information service and citizens' interest. If you pay a subscription month by month, you are interested in what is happening there and want that institution to do its job.
Without a subscription, public television and radio have become others' problem, paid for by citizens' money, with insufficient budget allocations, manipulated through parliamentary commissions, with administrative conditions coming from political leaders, each more foolish than the other, and with a feudal-type right of life and death of the Parliament over the leadership of the public radio-TV information service.
A Bottle of Champagne Was Opened at the Kremlin
I am sure that Sorin Grindeanu and other PSD leaders, when negotiating with AUR the interim leaderships of TVR and Radio Romania, never thought for a moment that a bottle of champagne was just opened at the Kremlin.
Lia Olguța Vasilescu lacks nuances, does not believe, and does not understand anything about what a hybrid war means and the danger Romania is in.
Personal and immediate interest, party interest, prevail. However, I believe that few of those who voted for PSD and thought, when they cast their ballot, that this gesture could create a danger for the country and for everyone's safety.
We already hear drones buzzing around us. Tens of thousands of people are bewildered by RO-ALERT, and Russian spies are gathering extensive information about strategic objectives in Romania.
The takeover of TVR by AUR shows how weak and helpless the Romanian state has become, which effectively has no solutions and doesn't even bother to resist the hybrid and political attacks from the Kremlin.
Monday, September 7, 2026, was the last TVR show I participated in as a journalist for Spotmedia.ro. The next day, Sorina Matei was appointed at the helm of TVR.
As long as AUR will lead the fate of the public television station, I will decline any invitation. I have the utmost respect for the journalists, directors, cameramen, and employees of TVR who professionally perform their duties under difficult conditions. I thank them and hope to see them again in better times.